Strips of cabbage stand in for noodles and chickpeas for chicken in this low-fat, gluten-free vegan cabbage soup that is reminiscent of chicken noodle soup.
One of my daughter E’s favorite soups is a “Chick’n” Noodle Soup that starts with Imagine’s No-Chicken broth and includes, besides pasta, either Soy Curls or another packaged chicken substitute such as Lightlife Smart Strips. It’s one of those dishes that feel comforting on a chilly night or whenever our spirits need a lift, so my family asks for it a lot.
As someone who is trying to cut down on sodium and processed foods, I know in my head that this family favorite isn’t the most nutritious soup in the world, but I’m not immune to its charms. The stuff is addictive! Nevertheless, when I found myself craving it recently, I decided it was time to give it a nutrition-boosting makeover.
My new version uses no broth (the vegetables and seasonings create their own), substitutes chickpeas for “Chick’n,” and replaces the noodles with strips of cabbage. Though E still demands actual pasta in her soup, I found this a satisfying stand-in and almost as comforting as the original at a fraction of the calories.
Best of all, if you’re following Weight Watchers, one bowl is zero points under the Freestyle program (you’d have to eat 2 of them before it counts as 1 point.) And if you follow Eat to Live, this is perfect, except possibly for the salt and miso. But if you’d like to make it heartier, fell free to add pasta, as my daughter does, or potatoes. And extra veggies, such as green beans, can only make it more delicious.
For more cabbage goodness, check out my Vegan Cabbage Rolls, Irish White Bean and Cabbage Stew, and Vegan Chou Farci (Cabbage Stuffed with Barley and Lentils).
Cabbage "Noodle" Soup
Ingredients
- 1 small onion chopped
- 2 carrots diced or sliced
- 2 ribs celery leaves included, diced
- 8 cups water
- 1 teaspoon dried thyme leaves
- 1/8 teaspoon rubbed sage
- 2 bay leaves
- 1/2 teaspoon poultry seasoning
- 2 cloves garlic minced or pressed
- 1/4 head cabbage thinly sliced
- 1 15-ounce can chickpeas --or 1 1/2 cup cooked chickpeas, drained
- generous grating of black pepper
- 3 tablespoons nutritional yeast
- 1/4 cup parsley chopped
- 2 teaspoons mellow white miso (or 1 tsp. vegetable bouillon)
- salt to taste
Instructions
- Preheat a large, non-stick pot. Add the onions, carrots, and celery and cook until onions soften. Add the water and all remaining ingredients except nutritional yeast, parsley, and miso. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and cook until vegetables are tender and broth is flavorful (at least 30 minutes).
- Stir in the nutritional yeast and parsley. Place the miso in a small bowl and add some of the hot broth a little at a time, stirring, until the miso is dissolved in the broth. Add the miso broth back to the pot. Add salt to taste and serve.
Notes
Nutritional info is approximate.
Please pin and share:
Deborah Calderon
March 9, 2015 at 9:57 pmI have a question about the miso. I use miso a lot and as I understand it you don’t want to ever boil this stuff or it loses its power. So sometimes I add the dissolved miso to each bowl, because otherwise I might heat the leftovers up too much by accident and wreck the miso.
What do you think?
Susan Voisin
March 9, 2015 at 10:16 pmI try to add it at the end of cooking, but I don’t go out of my way to do so for reheating. I’ve heard that boiling destroys the enzymes, but I’m less concerned with any supposed health aspects of miso than I am with the flavor. I haven’t found that reheating affects the flavor at all.
Jan
March 17, 2017 at 1:04 pmAlthough I rarely post comments, just want to give you kudos to the excellent recipes! I began browsing this website when my vegan friend suggested it as a start to an alternative food path, and I have appreciated every recipe I’ve tried here.
Your care with flavor, quality, fat-free, along with ease of directions has been so helpful.
And — I also want to say that yours was the first that I could find in a definition of nutritional yeast.
Thank you again!!!
Sue Gilmore
December 19, 2017 at 7:54 amWe had this yesterday for lunch. I added a baked potato, skins and all plus a little soy curls. We loved it. Though I think next time I will add more cabbage. Thanks for a wonderful lunch, Susan!
Lynn
March 20, 2018 at 6:54 pmThis is a great soup and will go into regular rotation. Mr Picky does not like chickpeas so I used Great Northern and I added the small potato. Really delicious
Heidi W
October 19, 2018 at 10:08 amwow! this soup is so scrumptious! I plan on making it a regular, as the ingredients are common in my kitchen. I couldn’t believe how good it smelled! I heated a second helping in the microwave and the aroma…smelled just like chicken soup! and SO good tasting!
Sarah
December 13, 2018 at 3:10 pmThis is one of our favorite soups! Every winter I pull this one back out. Thanks for something different from the normal soups.
Anne
August 28, 2019 at 8:59 pmI like this so much I make it in hot Nor California summers. Just let it cool a little before eating instead of eating it hot off the stove.
Doris Fischer
February 1, 2021 at 1:30 pmCan I purchase Nutritional yeast at any store, I live in Peoria, Az.?
Jill Princehouse
March 3, 2023 at 5:14 pmIf I were to make this in an InstantPot, I’m thinking I need to cook it except for the can of beans to ad at the end. But how long should I cook it in the IP?